Expatriates

Published 7:00 pm, Friday, July 7, 2006

It appears the presidential election in Mexico had quite an impact on expatriates living in the United States.

By Midland Reporter-Telegram

It appears the presidential election in Mexico had quite an impact on expatriates living in the United States.

Reports from Mexico say thousands of U.S.-based Mexicans swamped polling stations south of the border last Sunday in a rush to vote in a tight presidential election. A large stream of Mexicans is said to have trekked on foot and piled into cars to cross the border and vote in towns from Tijuana in the west to Nuevo Laredo in Texas.

Several polling stations were overwhelmed by the number of expatriates who showed up to vote. The Federal Electoral Institute, or IFE, said in Tijuana, south of San Diego, 15,000 ballots set aside for voters from outside the area were used up within hours, as Mexicans living in southern California came south of the border to vote.

Many waited for hours in the sweltering heat to cast their votes in a fight between leftist frontrunner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and conservative rival Felipe Calderon. And that race proved to be as close as experts expected. A preliminary count showed Calderon, of President Vicente Fox's conservative National Action Party, narrowly winning, although Obrador is disputing those results. He has viowed to fight the results in court.

That means Mexico might be headed for a Florida-style recount. The charismatic Obrador is demanding a recount of every ballot, saying he plans to prove he defeated Calderon.

Obrador said he won't accept the results of the first recount this past week and will take his demands to court. His comments came as electoral workers wrapped up a vote tally that showed Felipe Calderon leading by 0.3 percent.

While the race is close and still undecided pending possible recounts, the issue that had Mexicans in the United States heading back home to vote had a lot to do with drug crimes along the border.

While the candidates have campaigned on economic growth and corruption, expatriates said they were more concerned about rampant drug crime on the border and migrant welfare.

Many of those who fled back across the border to vote ended up standing in long lines and still didn't get to cast a ballot. Reports from Mexico say hundreds were turned away after ballots assigned to voters from outside each district were exhausted within hours.

The stampede back to Mexico, however, does show those who work across the border in the United States don't forget their roots and heritage. We just wish that Hispanics in the U.S. would show the same passion for the vote as they do when voting in Mexico.